Legal Weed Will Require Careful Regulation

The Canadian government’ s push to legalize marijuana must be handled very carefully and should be heavily regulated to avoid potential pitfalls, Alberta’s justice minister cautioned following a recent fact-finding mission to pot-friendly Colorado.

“(Colorado’s) experience didn’t solve all of the problems that maybe some proponents suggested that it might do,” Kathleen Ganley said in an interview Monday. “But it also didn’t result in a whole bunch of new criminal activity that some detractors might suggest. “The important thing is around regulating it to ensure that everyone remains safe.”

Ganley’s three-day trip involved several meetings with Denver policy-makers, the state’s attorney general, environment health officials, as well as police and fire officials to identify the challenges the Rocky Mountain state faced after legalizing cannabis in 2014.

In April, the Liberal government announced it would table new legislation next spring to legalize pot. It established a nine-member task force to gather input from provincial and municipal governments, indigenous people, health and addiction experts.